How to get VirtualBox guest's name from guest

Question

In VirtualBox, is there a way to get a guest VM's own name from within that guest? The closest I found was VBoxControl guestproperty enumerate but that did not include any of aforementioned values. I'm running VirtualBox 5.1.20, Windows Server 2012 on the guest, and guest additions are installed.

Note I am able to get that information from the host by calling VBoxManage list vms.

It would also be adequate if I could set "some string property" from the host via VBoxManage that could be read by the guest via VBoxControl

Related question: Does VM know that it is ran by VirtualBox? — Biswapriyo, Dec 26 '17 at 16:57
VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed, so I would say yes — TinyTheBrontosaurus, Dec 26 '17 at 16:58
don‘t know if its possible but i guess you may need this to be able to tell on which VM you are while having multiple open. My Solution to this was to do different Color Themes on the different VMs. Hope this helps you also if not it may help others perhaps — konqui, Dec 26 '17 at 17:01
Ha! I've already done the wallpaper thing when juggling VMs. That's very much needed. But for this problem, I'm looking for a programmatic solution I can have logs that specify a VM. — TinyTheBrontosaurus, Dec 26 '17 at 17:05
You might have luck with `dmidecode` equivalent for `windows`: https://serverfault.com/questions/171524/virtualbox-get-guest-uuid-from-within-the-guest-computer — Arkadiusz Drabczyk, Dec 26 '17 at 17:57
I tried `wmic` which I read was supposed to be the equivalent, but it didn't have any of that info — TinyTheBrontosaurus, Dec 26 '17 at 18:25
I checked DMI and nothing. It should have been in OEM-defined of the chassis information but its not. In theory VBoxService knows about the state of the VM but it doesn't necessarily have the name metadata in it. I guess it should. — jdwolf, Dec 26 '17 at 21:24

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 26 '17 at 21:34

3

I have luck by setting the guestproperty in VBoxManage and VBoxControl.

On the host:

VBoxManage guestproperty set SampleVm GuestName SampleVm

Then on the guest:

VBoxControl --nologo guestproperty get GuestName

Downsides are that this requires VirtualBox Guest Additions (for VBoxControl) and an extra call from the host.

answered Dec 26 '17 at 21:34

TinyTheBrontosaurus

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This is adequate for my problem which is why I posted it. But I'm not going to accept the answer since I imagine (hope) there is a better answer out there – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 26 '17 at 21:35
What does `wmic csprodct get uuid` return on `guest`? – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 10:10
Nice. That does indeed return the UUID. But I don't see the name anywhere in there. That would enable me to make a UUID-to-name lookup table and share it with all the guests. – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:31
FWIW there's a typo in that: `wmic csproduct get uuid` – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:31
It might be a UUID of the virtual machine, look for it in `VBoxManage list vms` on the host. – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 14:33
Yes. It's definitely the UUID of the VM – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:34
Is it on the list? – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 14:35
The `VBoxManage list vms` is the UUID-to-name lookup table I referred to a few comments back. I would need a way to send that to the guest VMs to get me the name on the guest. Certainly doable – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:35
Yes, the UUID returned from `wmic` is the same as the UUID in `VBoxManage list vms`. That's how I knew `wmic` returned the correct UUID of the guest – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:37
Is this a final answer for your question then? If I were you I would rely solely on that. Name can be changed - for example you can rename your `Windows` machine to `Windows_old` some day and you would have to update the table on the guest. – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 14:40
is what the final answer? the answer these comments are posted against? Or the answer we walked through in the comments? The one in the comments is certainly *an* answer, but IMO it's difficult because it involves the transfer of the `VBoxManage list vms` lookup table from host to guest – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:44
also, if names changes, I want the guest VM to have that new name. not the old name – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:45
It's not necessary to transform a list virtual names to the guest as I just said, I really wouldn't do that. You will always have a valid `UUID`, that's enough. – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 14:46
enough for what? I appreciate your help but the question is to get the name, not the UUID. – TinyTheBrontosaurus Dec 27 '17 at 14:50
The answer is that it's not possible in `virtual machine` without manual work. – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 27 '17 at 14:51

How to get VirtualBox guest's name from guest

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